1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method for forming an electrical connector and an electrical connector obtained thereby. Particularly, the present invention is related to a method for forming a modular jack connector and a modular jack connector obtained thereby.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Modular jack connectors, for example, RJ-45 modular jack connectors, are widely used in computer network application. A conventional modular jack connector is formed by the following method:
a. providing a contact strip with two ends being formed with carriers and a plurality of contacts between the two carriers;
b. subjecting the strip to an insert molding to form an insulative block at a middle portion of the contacts, said insulative block dividing the contacts into first and second exposed portions;
c. stamping the first exposed portion into a contacting portion for mating with a complementary connector, and the second exposed portion into a tail portion for being soldered to a printed circuit board;
d. cutting the carriers from the contacts;
e. assembling the insulative block together with the contacts into a space defined in an insulative housing of the RJ-45 modular jack connector;
f. if necessary, a light emitting diode (LED) being mounted to the housing to indicate the connecting situation of the modular jack connector with the complementary connector; and
g. enclosing the housing with a metal shell to shield the contacts from electromagnetic interference.
In the conventional method, during the insert molding, since the middle portion of the contacts, which is the most flexible part of the contacts, is subject to the high pressured molten plastics flow, the contacts may deform to deviate from their intended positions. When this happens, the signal transmitting performance of the connector is adversely affected.
Furthermore, during the bending of the first and second exposed portions to form the contacting and tail portions of the contacts, internal stress is accumulated in the contacts. Once the carriers are cut from the contacts, the contacting and tail portions may deviate from their intended positions to release the accumulated internal stress. When this happens, the contacting portion is unable to accurately mate with the complementary connector, and the tail portion is unable to accurately solder to the printed circuit board.
Hence, an improved method for forming an electrical connector is required, which can overcome the above-mentioned defects of the current art.
A first objective of the present invention is to provide a method for forming a modular jack connector and a modular jack connector obtained thereby, wherein contact dislocation due to impacting force acting on the contacts during insert molding a contact strip to form a contact insert subassembly can be effectively avoided.
A second objective of the present invention is to provide a method for forming a modular jack connector and a modular jack connector obtained thereby, wherein the problem of deviation of the contacting portion and soldering tail portion of the contacts from their intended positions due to release of accumulated internal stress by removal of contact strip carriers can be effectively improved.
To fulfill the above-mentioned objectives, a method for forming a contact subassembly of a modular jack connector comprises the steps of:
a. stamping a contact strip into a group of contacts which are interconnected by an end carrier and a middle carrier, said middle carrier divides the contacts into first and second portions, wherein the second portion is located between the end carrier and the middle carrier;
b. applying a bending operation to the first portion of the contacts to form a soldering tail portion for the contacts;
c. subjecting the contact strip to insert molding to form an insulative block around a middle portion of the contacts wherein an opening is defined in the insulative block, the opening receiving and exposing the middle carrier;
d. cutting the end carrier and the middle carrier from the contacts;
e. applying a bending operation to the second portion of the contacts to form a contacting portion for the contacts.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present embodiment when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.